Barocco, 2009-2019

Global collaborative embroidery & performance.

Art Dubai 2009, The Royal Academy, London 2010

, Premio Valcellina Award, Italy, 2012. Gallery Maeght, Paris 2012, Rook & Raven Gallery, London, 2015.

100 Embroiderers. 24 Countries. 1 Dress

Barocco is a decade-long embroidery project by British artist Kirstie Macleod that is centred around a single red dress.

Since 2009, parts of the dress have travelled around the world being continuously embroidered onto. Over 100 people have contributed so far, from 24 different countries. Artisans include the Missibaba embroiderers in South Africa, refugees supported by Albadia in Lebanon, Kisany embroiders in Congo and Rwanda, an individual from the Dzao tribe in Vietnam, embroiderers in Japan, Oregan, Wales, Australia, Tobago and 20 women from the Fansina collective in Egypt’s Sinai.

Taken from the ancient Portuguese word for a “rough or imperfect pearl”, Barocco is a performance piece where Kirstie Macleod sits within a central perspex cube wearing and embroidering the ornate red dress that fills the tiny space around her.

Over the remaining year, elements of Barocco will be worked on and over by embroiderers around the globe.

The piece makes tangible the interplay through embroidery between a variety of cultures, each with their own identity and experience, who express themselves through their stitches. A vehicle of expression, and for some a platform of empowerment.